Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Funny He Should Say That

I know a number of people in the [pundit] profession who regard any quantity of public pie-ings as tantamount to fascism (really, multiple people have put this argument to me)...

The only person I ever saw get pied was 60s radical Jerry Rubin. This was about 1979 and Rubin was on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale giving a lecture on his experiences in the 1960s. I was in the audience that day when a man suddenly ran up and threw a pie in Rubin’s face. Rubin became furious and either called the pie thrower a fascist or called the pie throwing a fascist thing to do, I can’t remember which.

I was baffled then and still don’t understand the “fascist” label for pie-throwing. Sure, it’s rude and juvenile, but “fascist”?

And by the way, when Rubin asked the pie man why he threw the pie at him, the man said something like, “It seemed like a sixties thing to do.” Like I said juvenile, not fascist.

1 comment:

Pie-ing is one of my favorite profound acts of political protest. A friend of mine pied George Ryan in Southern Illinois while he was still Governor. Specifically over his appointments to the SIUC board of trustees. I've been a fan ever since. Afterward a local bakery was selling the "George Ryan special."